Reports: Hewlett-Packard Plans To Announce About 25,000 Job Cuts

Several news outlets are reporting that computer giant Hewlett-Packard will announce the elimination of 25,000 to 30,000 jobs. All Things D reports that the announcement will come from CEO Meg Whitman when the company announces its quarterly earnings next Wednesday.

"Additionally, sources say, Whitman will, during a conference call with analysts, portray the cuts as necessary — not to bolster HP's earnings and satisfy shareholders, but rather as a means to make needed investments. On this point, Whitman will be borrowing a bit from the playbook of her short-lived predecessor, former HP CEO Léo Apotheker.

"Whitman will argue that many of the cuts made at HP during the five years that Mark Hurd was at its helm were made without corresponding investments in new and growing initiatives. This 'cut and reinvest" theme will apply across the company, sources tell me. The process has been an intense one among HP's senior executive ranks and has, as one source put it, 'consumed the company.'"

All Things D puts the number of jobs to be potentially cut at 30,000 while Bloomberg reports that will cut 8 percent of its workforce or 25,000 jobs. Yesterday, Business Insider reported that the company would make "significant cuts."

All of these news outlets are pinning the news on unnamed company sources.

After the news broke, HP stock's price rallied, climbing by as much as 7 cents.

All Things D says cuts will happen over "a relatively long period of time, perhaps a year or more."

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